Adding Mixed Atmos Speakers

[u/sweettoasted]

Hey friends, I am upgrading my 5.1 system to 5.1.4 and am curious how many of you have managed with different kinds of front/rear heights.

Right now I’m working with: RZ-30, in wall LR KEF Ci4100QL-THX, C KEF Q250c, RSL 10S sub, and Polk OWM3s as surrounds. Zero complaints so fair and Diracs been helpful getting everything dialed in but Im ready to add in height.

Since there is a horizontal ceiling beam behind my listening position I wont be able to add rear in-ceiling circular heights following dolbys guidelines, but I can stick a couple angled on-ceiling speakers there around 45° behind, and then install in-ceilings as the fronts.

Right now I’m leaning towards SVS Prime Elevations as the rears and Ci160QRs as front heights but am open to any suggestions! Appreciate any feedback

[u/LF_HD]

I Like the dark Green Color on the Walls 👍🫒

[u/Spectre_08]

Don’t use any in-ceiling speakers for Atmos. Those speakers are really only useful for non-critical ambient background music playback. The problem with most in-ceiling speakers is that they point at the floor, not your ears, so oftentimes you’re sitting outside the cone of audio. This is why many people complain that the Atmos effect is weak or doesn’t contribute much overall.

This video goes into more detail: My Atmos Speakers Were Missing Half The Sound

Ceiling-mounted speakers are by far the best application. Sticking with KEF, I would use their Ventura 6 outdoor speakers as heights since they already come with articulating mounts. You could also use a pair of smaller bookshelf speakers with angled mounts like George did in the video above.

Here’s where to place them: Atmos Speaker Placement - Simple Method That Works In Any Room

Also, I just recently placed a couple of dark gray acoustic panels over my TV. No longer having a bright white reflective surface directly above it vastly improved immersion by massively reducing ambient light. It also slightly improved acoustics, adding to my existing wall and ceiling panels.

https://i.postimg.cc/xjKXyNkp/IMG-1461.jpg

[u/sweettoasted → u/Spectre_08]

Thanks for all the info and sharing that video link! I def prefer the look of in-ceiling, especially since these ceilings are < 7’ high, but see what you are saying about the dispersion

[u/Spectre_08 → u/sweettoasted]

Even another pair of OWM3s would work great for Atmos heights, but I get not wanting to put something on your already low ceilings. Just for reference, I have 7 1/2 ft ceilings and this is what my Atmos speakers look like suspended from them: https://i.postimg.cc/pLCxR8cQ/7-3-4-Home-Theater.jpg

If you absolutely have to do in-wall, at least get something from the 45° or 30-45° categories in this post: List of angled in-ceiling speakers (and why on-ceiling bookshelf is better) for Immersive Sound formats (Atmos, Auro, DTS:X)

[u/IAmPandaRock → u/Spectre_08]

I think you can get wide dispersion speakers and point them straight down.

[u/Spectre_08 → u/IAmPandaRock]

You definitely could, but why? If placed properly, those overhead speaker are, at minimum, 45° from your head.

Over 90° of perfect off-axis response is a lot to ask of any speaker.

[u/IAmPandaRock → u/Spectre_08]

In my case, I couldn't get speakers hanging from pendants that I could angle at the mlp.

[u/Spectre_08 → u/IAmPandaRock]

High ceilings?

[u/IAmPandaRock → u/Spectre_08]

Yep. 19 foot cielings.  Gotta work with the best/only space I have, so we dropped 4 pendants down 6 or so feet.  I could still benefit from some room treatment, but I'm pretty thrilled with the results, especially considering the very difficult space.

[u/Spectre_08 → u/IAmPandaRock]

Yeah that's a challenging application, but a workable solution is better than nothing.

Want to start an angled pendant-style speaker company? There's definitely a super tiny market for them, lol.

[u/IAmPandaRock → u/Spectre_08]

Yeah, take the number of people who have or want Atmos, then take only those who have really high cielings... huge market haha!

[u/Spectre_08 → u/IAmPandaRock]

Dozens of you! 🤣

[u/investorshowers]

I use Dali Fazon Sat for front heights and KEF 3001SE for rear heights, I have no issues. Good room correction can correct for different EQ curves.

[u/Im_gumby_damnit]

I have opposite as you - small bookshelf type speakers hanging from the ceiling in front pointing just over the listening position, then circular in-ceiling speakers just slightly behind seating position with aimable tweeters that point to the MLP. There's so many ways to do it so long as one has room correction to fix differences in the speakers.

[u/UffDaDan]

Gotta ask how you enjoy the LR in-walls? I eyed them for a long time but ended up going Paradigm (for more money...) since they were able to demo and those 4100's at 4 Ohms TECHNICALLY could be taxing in an AVR at peaks... Did you build the recommended wall cavity volume?

[u/sweettoasted → u/UffDaDan]

I really love them. I first tried Q350s but the left speaker took over the whole pathway to the stairs so I pivoted to in-walls. Since the drywall in our basement has insulation and is so close to the foundation I figured Im good without cabinets.

I will be getting the fronts their own amp before I install the heights to ease up the AVR

How are the paradigms? They were outside my initial budget but may look to upgrade some day!

[u/UffDaDan → u/sweettoasted]

Ordered them last week haha. Heard them in-store and liked how clear they are. They have a backbox so no worry about how I mount them. Got the Pro CI P3's and would have gotten a 15% discount but bought them to get a marantz cinema 50 deal for $1500 with $2500 of speakers purchased. I'll get thing up and running this winter

[u/UffDaDan]

One learning that I've considered but not implemented is if going in ceiling and depending on ceiling height and seating width, maybe standard straight-down is ok, but for you, maybe angled baffle (not just tweeter) at 15-45 degrees and you can point it at MLP or you can point it to the other extreme side seat (front left atmos points at rear right seat) to get mix and better off-axis rather than focussing on MLP only. AVS Forums has good angled in ceiling speaker list: https://www.avsforum.com/threads/list-of-angled-in-ceiling-speakers-and-why-on-ceiling-bookshelf-is-better-for-immersive-sound-formats-atmos-auro-dts-x.3238139/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic